DAWN Fridayfax 1999 #32

Worldwide

Open Doors' Persecution Index

The missions agency Open Doors, which was founded by Brother Andrew ("God's Smuggler"), regularly publishes the 'World Watch List', detailing countries in which Christians are persecuted. Persecution and church growth are closely linked, so these figures make interesting reading. (Editor's note: the current figures, from July 1999, are based on careful estimates instead of empirical evidence in a number of cases.)

Key to the columns:

1. Current rank (July 99)
2. Rank from the previous quarter (April 99)
3. Nation
4. Points on the persecution scale - more points means more persecution
5. Points last quarter
6. Trend increasing (+), level (0) or decreasing (-)
7. Variation Degree - level of uncertainty
8. Open Doors' estimate of the number of Christians in the country, including foreigners. (Most Christians in Saudi Arabia are foreigners.)

Rank	Rank at 4/99	Country	Points	Points 4/99	Trend	Variation	Christians
01	(01)	Saudi Arabia	81.5	83.5	0	2	600,000
02	(11)	Afghanistan	72.5	62.5		3	2,500
03	(02)	Sudan	70.0	74.5	0	2	4,800,000
04	(06)	China	69.0	66.5		0	60,000,000
05	(04)	Yemen	66.5	68.0	0	25.5	5,000
06	(10)	Morocco	64.0	63.5	0	5	25,000
07	(09)	Iran	63.0	64.0	0	10	200,000
08	(14)	Libya	62.5	61.0	0	0	100,000
09	(25)	Tunisia	62.0	54.5	-	6	10,000
10	(17)	Egypt	60.0	60.0	0	3	8,000,000
11	(18)	Uzbekistan	59.5	59.5	-	0	300,000
12	(08)	Vietnam	58.5	65.0	-	0	7,350,000
13	(16)	Chechnya (RUS)	58.0	60.5	-	28.5	200
14	(27)	Pakistan	54.5	53.5	0	4	3,250,000
15	(07)	Laos	53.5	66.5	0	6	50,000
16	(12)	Maldives	53.5	62.0	0	24.5	250
17	(13)	Qatar	52.5	61.5	0	25.5	30,000
18	(23)	Turkmenistan	52.0	54.5	0	4.5	60,000
19	(05)	North Korea	52.0	67.5	0	38.5	100,000
20	(03)	Somalia	51.5	71.0	0	27.5	1,000
21	(15)	Comoro Islands	50.0	61.0	+	14.5	200
22	(19)	Mexico (south)	46.5	57.5	0	14.5	1,000,000
23	(29)	Un. Arab Emir.	46.0	51.5	0	23.5	180,000
24	(26)	Bhutan	46.0	54.5	0	30.5	5,000
25	(20)	Mauritania	45.0	55.5	0	27.5	2,300
26	(37)	Indonesia	45.0	45.0	0	0	20,000,000
27	(31)	Colombia	45.0	50.5	0	8.5	34,000,000
28	(21)	Algeria	45.0	55.5	0	12.5	40,000
29	(24)	Brunei	45.0	54.5	0	16.5	24,000
30	(22)	Djibouti	44.5	55.0	0	17.5	22,500
31	(32)	Bahrain	44.0	50.0	0	23.5	43,000
32	(28)	Azerbaijan	43.0	53.5	0	14.5	45,000
33	(35)	Kuwait	42.5	47.0	0	24.5	75,000
34	(30)	Oman	42.0	50.5	0	29.5	60,000
35	(33)	Dagestan (RUS)	41.5	49.5	0	14.5	1,000
36	(36)	India	41.5	45.0	-	14.5	25,000,000
37	(34)	Cuba	41.0	48.5	+	12.5	4,000,000
38	(40)	Myanmar (Burma)	40.5	42.0	0	6.5	2,530,000
39	(41)	Turkey	37.5	41.5	0	0	91,000
40	(49)	Nepal	36.5	33.0	-	6.5	150,000
41	(43)	Kab-Balk. (RUS)	35.5	40.0	0	6	10,000
42	(39)	Tatarstan (RUS)	34.0	42.0	0	17.5	200,000
43	(38)	Nigeria (North)	34.0	43.0	+	12.5	45,000,000
44	(44)	Ingushetia (RUS)	33.5	37.5	0	7	?
45	(55)	Russia	33.0	30.5	0	3	38,250,000
46	(48)	Philippines (s)	33.0	34.0	0	2	60,000,000
47	(51)	Iraq	32.5	32.5	0	20	500,000
48	(47)	Tajikistan	31.5	34.0	0	7	10,000
49	(42)	Ethiopia	29.5	40.0	0	14.5	27,500,000
50	(45)	Chad	29.5	37.0	+	8.5	2,200,000
51	(59)	Sri Lanka	28.5	29.0	0	2	1,400,000
52	(58)	Syria	28.5	29.5	0	14	1,200,000
53	(46)	Cambodia	28.0	35.0	0	15.5	36,000
54	(50)	Peru	27.5	33.0	0	2	20,000,000
55	(54)	Guatemala	27.0	31.5	0	14.5	10,000,000
56	(56)	Eritrea	26.5	30.5	0	2	1,659,600
57	(67)	Belarus	26.5	23.0	0	5	2,500,000
58	(61)	Mongolia	25.5	29.0	0	25	3,000
59	(57)	Northern Iraq	25.0	30.0	0	15.5	112,000
60	(52)	Malaysia	25.0	32.5	0	14.5	1,600,000
61	(62)	Bulgaria	23.0	26.0	0	2	6,200,000
62	(68)	Gaza & West Bank	23.0	22.5	0	3	40,000
63	(63)	Greece	23.0	26.0	0	4	9,800,000
64	(65)	Israel	21.0	24.5	0	0	125,000
65	(69)	Serbia	21.0	21.0	0	4	6,250,000
66	(70)	Macedonia	20.5	19.5	0	2	1,250,000
67	(60)	Zanzibar	19.5	29.0	0	8.5	1,000
68	(64)	Jordan	19.0	25.5	+	3	190,000
69	(53)	Bangladesh	17.5	32.0	0	3.5	600,000
70	(-)	Ukraine	17.0	-	0	2	25,000,000
71	(71)	Dem. Rep. Congo	16.5	18.0	0	2	26,650,000
72	(66)	Niger	16.5	23.5	0	6.5	41,500
73	(73)	Kazakstan	16.0	17.5	0	2	1,250,000
74	(76)	Thailand	16.0	16.5	0	10.5	600,000
75	(72)	Mauritius	15.5	18.0	0	6	375,000
76	(74)	Uganda	14.5	16.5	0	4	18,300,000
77	(77)	Singapore	14.5	16.0	0	8.5	392,000
78	(80)	Burundi	14.0	14.0	0	8	5,700,000
79	(81)	Albania	14.0	14.0	0	0	650,000
80	(75)	Georgia	13.0	16.5	0	2	3,000,000
81	(83)	Cyprus	13.0	13.0	0	5	575,000
82	(91)	Romania	11.5	10.5	0	3	20,000,000
83	(78)	Kyrgyzstan	11.5	15.0	0	6.5	105,000
84	(79)	Malawi	11.0	14.5	0	5	8,000,000
85	(88)	Lebanon	11.0	12.0	0	2	1,280,000
86	(84)	Armenia	11.0	13.0	0	3	2,700,000
87	(86)	Bosnia	10.5	12.0	0	2	1,500,000
88	(82)	Kenya	10.0	13.5	0	6	25,286,800

Nations with between 0.5 and 9.5 persecution points: Angola, Austria, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Japan, Liberia, Mali, Malta, Mozambique, Moldova, Nicaragua, Republic of South Africa, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea, Taiwan, Tanzania, Togo, USA, Zimbabwe.
(Fewer than 10 persecution points indicate basic religious freedom).

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